


Vampires Will Never Hurt You

by Tamix13



Category: Shinedown (Band)
Genre: M/M, Vampire AU, a bit of violence near the end bc angry vampire, some blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamix13/pseuds/Tamix13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Zach is a vampire hunter and Brent is a vampire. <br/>Zach is contracted to kill Brent, but on meeting him, Zach decides to spare Brent because maybe vampires aren't the monsters that he thought they were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vampires Will Never Hurt You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swiftywrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftywrites/gifts).



> This ended up way longer than I was expecting but I really liked the way it turned out. Vampire AUs are my one true weakness so I had to write one for brach obviously.

Zach yawned widely, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he stepped out of his hotel. He’d driven all the way from Memphis to Knoxville, because trying to get on an airplane with all of his gear was probably not a good idea.

People tended to question why a short, blond dude was carrying around holy water and silver knives.

He’d gotten the call to come to Knoxville at around eleven o'clock last night, and after an hour of careful packing, had set out right away. His contacts had wanted to meet with him at nine am, so driving from midnight to around six am had left him with nearly no time to rest at all. 

Cursing whoever had thought it was a good idea to call him so late, Zach got in his car and took a brief detour to get some coffee before heading to the prearranged meeting place. He was sure they would rather he was a couple seconds late rather than having him falling asleep during the briefing. That could be dangerous, as there was important information about the vampire he was going to have to kill in these briefings. 

Yes, the vampire he was going to have to kill. Zach was a vampire hunter from a long line of vampire hunters. He was someone who got called in on a job to job basis and was contracted by a city or individual person to kill a certain vampire. It was dangerous and messy more often than not, but it paid very well. And his father had expected him to keep the family name in the business, and after all the time his father had put into training him for this, who was Zach to refuse?

When Zach got to the address that had been given to him over the phone, he let himself in as he’d been instructed to do, and found the room number that he’d also been given. Knocking twice, the blond waited until the door opened a crack before letting himself in. The man standing in front of the windows didn’t turn around. 

“You’re late,” he said simply. Zach scowled and checked his phone.

“By like one minute. I had to drive for six hours; forgive me if I wanted some coffee to wake me up.” The man turned around, frowning.

“One minute could be the difference between someone living or not. I have trusted contacts watching the vampire, but if it decides to take a victim, they are not trained to stop it or engage it in any sort of fashion.”

“Which is why you called me, yeah? The expert on vampires? When did this vampire last feed?” Zach asked.

“Yesterday afternoon.”

“Then it probably won’t need to feed for another couple of days at the least. So forgive me if I’m one minute late.” Zach was aware that he was being snarky, but he was tired damn it. 

Plus from what he knew, vampires actually rarely killed when they fed unless they were very hungry or unless they were just that depraved. 

“Either way, please take a seat so we can get on with this meeting. I am a busy man; I have many other things that need to get done today.” Zach hid a roll of his eyes by flopping down into the vacant chair and digging out a notebook and pen from his backpack.

“Alright let me have it. If you have to be quick, be quick, but try not to spare any details. The smallest thing could be crucially important.”   
~~~~  
“And that’s all I have at this point. Do you have any questions?” Zach stood up and stretched slowly.

“Not at the moment. If you think of something else that might be useful, you know how to contact me.” The blond slung his backpack over his shoulder. “I’ll keep you updated on how my progress is going.”

“How soon do you think you can have this done and over with? People are afraid to go out after dark, even in groups.” Zach snorted softly.

“You might want to tell people that vampires can go out in the day just as readily as in the dark. The only thing that can kill one is something sharp and pure silver through the heart. And you gotta make sure they bleed out.” Zach grinned at the disgusted look that crossed his client’s face. “As for how soon I can get this done, well, it depends really.”

“On what?”

“Oh, a variety of things. How secretive this particular vampire is, how strong, if they’re going to be scared of me. A lot of things really, but it should be done within the week.”

“Good. I hired you because you were one of the best. My wallet is suffering because of it, but not as much as the people are suffering with this creature out and about amongst them. Do try to put their minds at ease as quickly as possible or I will not hesitate to replace you.”

“I said I’d get it done didn’t I? Have some faith in me, there’s a reason everyone you called probably told you to call me first, right?” With that parting shot, Zach hoisted his backpack up more securely and sauntered out. 

Once he was out of the building and back in the sunlight, Zach decided that he would use his remaining free time to more thoroughly explore the city. It was something he liked to do, and it helped him to map out potential places where a vampire could be staying. Though some of them stayed in houses and tried to blend into society, more of them stayed secluded in places that normal humans would be wary of going. Any abandoned, “haunted” type house was fair game, and thus, Zach liked to know where they all were. 

Yet, the kinds of houses that Zach was seeing in the neighborhood that his client said the vampire was mainly hunting in weren’t run down or abandoned looking. This was a fairly nice, respectable looking neighborhood. 

“Huh…” the blond murmured. “If I was a vampire, where would I be hiding…?” It was lucky for him that there was only one vampire. Vampires tended to be solitary, possessive creatures so usually one or two would claim a city to be their hunting ground. Zach figured it worked out because it would draw less attention to them if there weren’t a ton of people going missing or dying in one city. And his contact had said that this vampire that he was hunting was the only one they’d seen. So it was the only one Zach was going to worry about, though he was prepared for if there was more than one.

In this business, it never hurt to be too prepared. It could mean your life or death. 

As Zach was mulling over exactly where this vampire could be, he heard someone cry out in pain. The blond whirled towards the sound, hand automatically going to where one of his silver knives was concealed. 

“Damn it, I thought he said that the vampire already fed yesterday.” Not wanting to know how smug his client would be if Zach was wrong about vampire feeding patterns, the blond took off running towards where he had heard the scream come from. Passing an alleyway, Zach did a double take, then backed up to get a better look at the shadowy figures that were at the end of it. There was a person huddled on the ground with someone standing over them menacingly, holding something in an upraised hand.  
“Hey!” Zach called sharply, fingers curling around the hilt of the silver knife hidden in his jacket when the standing figure turned to face him. “What are you doing?”

“He killed my daughter!”

That hadn’t been at all what Zach was expecting. Not only was it a woman’s voice (the vampire, Zach had been informed, was a man), but then who was the person huddled on the ground in front of her? The blond stepped forward to see better, but stopped when the woman held whatever was in her hand out towards him. Zach flinched back, expecting a gun, but then caught sight of what the woman was actually holding.

“A bottle…?”

“It’s holy water,” the woman spat. “So if you’re one of his friends, you’d better back off. I’m not letting him get away with this!” 

“Holy water? You think I’m a vampire?” Zach burst out laughing. “Lady, I’m anything but.” 

“You’re not? Then what are you?”

“I’m just a regular human, like you.”

“Then leave! This is my business! I’m gonna kill this asshole, and make him pay for killing my daughter and-”

“I didn’t kill your daughter; how many times do I have to tell you?” Zach startled at the raspy voice from the figure on the ground. So this was the vampire he had been told about. Not very intimidating by any stretch of the imagination. 

“You did!” The woman sobbed, whirling around to face the vampire. “She had the holes in her neck!” She splashed the contents of the bottle in her hand onto the vampire, and apparently she had real holy water, because the vampire cried out and curled up further. 

“Okay, enough.” Zach grabbed the woman’s arm before she could repeat the action. “Without going into the fact that vampire bites can be easily faked with a barbeque prong, killing this vampire is my job.”

“It is?” The woman turned in his direction, tears flowing freely down her face. 

“Yes I’m a vampire hunter, contracted to kill this vampire. I’ve been trained my whole life to hunt down and kill vampires, so why don’t you just go on home and leave this to me?”

“I want to watch! I want to know he’s dead!” But Zach shook his head. 

“You think you could watch me stab him and make sure he bleeds out?” The woman paled slightly, and looked down, shaking her head.

“No…”

“Then go on home. I promise you, I’ll get the job done.”

“Alright...I trust you…” With one last hateful look at the vampire hunched on the ground, she whirled on her heel and stormed off. Zach watched her go, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Jeez, crazy lady, trying to kill a vampire…” The blond tossed a look over his shoulder at the vampire’s pitiful figure. “Not that you’re much of a threat if you couldn’t subdue her.” Finally able to step closer, Zach did so, smirking to himself when the vampire flinched back away from him. Then he saw why the woman had been able to do what she did. The vampire’s skin was covered in multiple burns from holy water, all in various stages of healing. And now Zach was confused because if these wounds weren’t healing right away, then that meant the vampire wasn’t feeding. But his client had said he’d seen the vampire feeding the day before…

“They’ve all been...trying to hurt me. I haven’t even killed anyone…” The vampire tilted his head up a little to look at Zach. “I swear, I’ve never actually killed anyone when I fed from them.”

“Y’know, with how pitiful you look, I almost believe you.” Zach crouched down in front of the vampire. “You haven’t been feeding lately anyways have you? Otherwise these would’ve healed by now surely.” 

“You do know what you’re talking about don’t you? No, I haven’t fed in around two months.” Zach whistled lowly.

“How often are you supposed to feed?”

“Probably every week if I can manage it…” The vampire closed his eyes tiredly. “So I’m afraid killing me won’t be very rewarding, mister vampire hunter.” 

“Man, now I feel bad killing you. What’s your name anyways?” The vampire blinked his eyes open, looking surprised.

“I’m sure that’s not a question you get to ask very often. But it’s Brent, if you really want to know.”

“Well, I don’t often get the chance to really talk to a vampire without them wanting to kill me, if you get what I mean. But oddly enough, it’s nice to meet you Brent. My name’s Zach.” Zach held out a hand and the vampire, Brent, leaned up as if to take it. But he winced and made a little pained sound instead, clutching at his side. And now that he wasn’t all curled up, Zach could see the wound on Brent’s side and the blood dripping down onto the pavement beneath him.   
“Jesus christ how did that happen?” 

“Someone who managed to get their hands on something sharp and mostly pure silver. Snuck up on me while I was trying to feed to heal myself from the rest of this.” Zach swore softly. He couldn’t kill this vampire. Zach had some sense of dignity, and it was telling him that killing Brent wouldn’t be fair; the vampire was far too weak and hurt to deserve such a fate. 

“So, aren’t you here to kill me?” Zach looked down at the quiet question. Brent was leaning back against the alley wall, eyes dark and tired looking. The blond merely shook his head, smiling at the look of confusion that crossed Brent’s face. “Why not?”

“I couldn’t kill you without feeling bad about it. You’re much too weak to put up a fight; it just wouldn’t feel okay to me to kill someone so helpless, even a vampire.” Zach shrugged at the look that Brent was giving him. “Call it honor or dignity or what have you. I have morals, and they’re telling me to let you live.” 

“Well, I suppose that’s good and all, but it won’t matter for much longer. I can’t feed and the weaker I get, the more opportunity these people have to kill me. I can’t fend them off forever; I’m just too tired.”

“You can’t feed?” Brent shook his head. 

“No, I’m too weak, and plus all of the people I try to feed from know what I am. Vampires are at their most vulnerable when feeding, and it’s too dangerous for me to let my guard down when so many people know what I am and want to kill me.” 

“That’s how someone stabbed you…” Zach said in realization. “You said they got you when you were trying to feed…” Brent nodded and shifted slightly, wincing when the movement pulled at his wounded side. Seeing that, Zach made a split second decision, which he was prone to doing and usually, no one appreciated it.

“You can feed from me.” Brent’s head came up and his gaze met Zach’s, dark and intense.

“Surely you’re not serious.”

“What if I was?” Zach asked. “Because I am.”

“Do you even know what you’re offering?” The vampire’s tone had gone quiet and dark and his hand came up to curl around Zach’s wrist. “Do you know how tempting that is?” Zach twitched a little, but didn’t back down. 

“Offer still stands.” 

“I could hurt you. Hell, with how hungry I am right now I could kill you by taking too much. You want to risk that?”

“I’m not changing my mind. I’m trying to be nice here and give you a chance at living.”

“Why though?” Brent asked. “We’re supposed to be enemies.”

“Call it a hunch, but you’re different from other vampires I’ve met. You seem like a decent enough guy. You said you’ve never killed anyone, so that’s a point in your favor.” Brent laughed, low and mirthless.

“I doubt that your hunter friends will see it like that unfortunately.”

“Who says that they have to know about this?” Zach said with a smirk. “I’ll never tell them, will you?”

“That is true...I still don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into…”

“I don’t, but I’m not going to worry about that unless I need to.”

“You are insufferable.” Brent sighed. “Fine, I’m not about to turn down a free meal. You’ll have to come here though; I don’t think I can really move that much right now.” Zach obliged, moving in a little closer. He was supremely unprepared for Brent’s hand curling in his T-shirt and pulling him closer, nor was he prepared for the mouth on his neck and the sudden brush of fangs. 

(Zach swore up and down that the squeaky startled noise did not come out of his mouth). 

“Are you still sure about doing this?” Brent murmured against Zach’s throat, fangs pricking at the soft skin over his veins. Zach couldn’t deny that the shiver that ran down his spine at the feeling was more out of being suddenly and inexplicably turned on rather than fear. Unable to speak, the blond simply nodded shallowly and yelped when the fangs that had been brushing up against his throat broke through his skin.

The feeling wasn’t unpleasant per se, and it didn’t really hurt. There was only one sharp stab of pain when Brent’s fangs first broke through his skin, and then a strange wave of peace washed over Zach, causing him to go limp in the vampire’s arms. The only odd thing was feeling his blood being drawn out of his veins at that rapid of a pace. Brent’s mouth was warm against his neck and the vampire’s hands were curled firmly around Zach’s arms. The vampire hunter was being held up solely by Brent’s hands now; he was slowly getting too weak to hold himself up. 

“Brent…” The blond rasped. “Brent, stop...please, I don’t feel good…” The vampire growled low in his throat but obliged, pulling away. Then to Zach’s surprise, Brent licked gently over the wound he had made, cleaning up the small amount of blood that had dripped down the blond’s neck when Brent had pulled away. “Uh?” 

“That’s another reason I knew that woman was lying about me, or any other vampire for that matter, killing her daughter. All vampires are taught to heal their bites; our saliva acts as a mild healing agent.”

“What, really?” Zach reached up shakily to feel at his neck. Instead of blood and pain however, he only felt smooth, unblemished skin. “Weird, I didn’t know that.” The blond swayed suddenly and was glad that he hadn’t been standing. “Oh…” Brent’s hand moved quickly to support the small of his back. 

“Take it easy. I took quite a substantial amount of blood from you.” 

“Yeah, I’m realizing that now…” 

“Do you think you’ll be able to stand and walk?” Brent asked, looking concerned. 

“Yeah totally! Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” To try and prove his point (because Brent looked totally unconvinced by his statement), Zach got to his feet. 

Only to have his vision black out around the edges. One minute he was standing, albeit shakily, and the next minute he was in Brent’s arms. The vampire had managed to catch Zach mid-fall, and his arms were steady and warm around the blond’s waist. 

“You’re fine, huh?” Brent teased, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

“Shut up…” Zach grumbled, but the venom behind his words was kind of blunted by how shaky and quiet his voice was. “Maybe I’m not as fine as I thought.” But he tried one more time to stand up by himself, and this time, blacked out for real.   
~~~~  
When Zach woke up, it was to a hand stroking through his hair and a warm blanket over his legs. 

“Ugh…” He murmured, reaching up to put a hand to his head. “What happened? Where am I?” 

“You’re at my house. You passed out from blood loss.” Zach looked up to see Brent sitting next to his head. “I told you that I took more than was really okay for you. You’re pretty small for me to be taking that much. If you hadn’t told me to stop, I could’ve killed you easily.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t so-wait, did you just call me small? I’m not small!” Brent laughed softly, carding through Zach’s hair soothingly and scritching his scalp. 

“You kind of are. Anyway, how are you feeling now?” 

“Better....still a little dizzy but not as much as before. Maybe it’s because I’m laying down though.”

“You probably just need something to eat. Again, normally I would only take to leave someone a bit lightheaded, not passing out. Usually someone would just feel like they have a mild hangover or like they’ve just given blood the normal way.” 

“Extenuating circumstances. You were pretty much dying. Honestly, I don’t mind, so if you feel bad, stop because it’s no big deal. You didn’t kill me, you feel better, everything’s good.” Zach closed his eyes momentarily; all that talking had started to make him feel dizzy again. When he opened them, it was to Brent looking down at him in concern.

“I should really get you some food. You stay here, I’ll make you something. Are you allergic to anything, or hate anything in particular?”

“No not really, and vampires eat food?” Zach asked curiously and Brent nodded.

“Yeah, we don’t get any nutritional value out of it, but we can digest food. Plus it tastes good, and it’s a good way to blend in.” Brent got up, resting his hand briefly on Zach’s forehead. “You stay here; I’ll bring the food to you.”

But, too curious about the vampire’s house to stay in bed, even when getting up had him holding the wall for support, Zach quietly followed Brent to the kitchen, taking his time to look around the house a little. It was a pleasing mix between contemporary and old-fashioned, and several times Zach was awed by just how beautifully the two mixed together. Brent must have spent a long time making this house exactly to his standards, and the vampire’s age showed in the decorations that he favored. 

It wasn’t a big house, and Zach eventually found himself in the kitchen, where Brent was in the process of making a sandwich. The blond leaned against the door frame of the kitchen, winded just from walking that far. He must have made some sound, or the vampire had super hearing, because he looked up from the sandwich and frowned at Zach.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay in bed?” He admonished sternly. 

“Yeah, but I was curious,” Zach admitted. “Your house is really cool.” Brent smiled and helped the blond to sit down on the couch, going to fetch the sandwich he had made.

“Well thank you very much. I spent a long, long time getting it just the way I wanted it. I was born here, you know. When I was human I was born and raised here. Then after I was turned, I lived a lot of different places in different states and countries, but always ended up back here. So now I live here full time.” 

“Isn’t that difficult since you don’t age as quickly as humans do?” Zach asked, taking the plate that was offered to him and digging into the sandwich hungrily. 

“Well since everyone knows that I’m a vampire, it’s kind of a moot point. I’m just glad they haven’t started vandalising my house yet.” Brent sat down next to Zach, turning to face him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, but still a little headache-y. Nothing I can’t handle though, so don’t worry about me.”

“So I was just wondering,” Brent started. “If you’re not going to kill me, how are you going to explain to the person who hired you why I’m still around?”

“I’ll just have to tell him that you evaded me or something. I won’t go back on my word though; I won’t kill you.” Brent however, looked doubtful about that.

“Do you really think they’ll buy that?”

“I doubt it, but if you lay low, how can he prove that you didn’t just pull a fast one and leave or something? Seriously, it’ll work. Trust me.” Zach got up, testing his legs cautiously. When they didn’t give out on him, he turned to Brent. “I should probably get out of your hair, huh? Leave you to do whatever it is that vampires do in their spare time. Thank you for uh...not letting me pass out in an alleyway and such.” The blond rubbed the back of his head and Brent laughed.

“No problem. I should be the one thanking you; you helped me out big time. You could’ve just killed me, but you helped me instead. I owe you one.” Brent looked so sincere, and Zach felt his face heat up a little.

“Nah, you don’t owe me a thing, don’t worry about it,” he muttered, trying to wave it off. Brent frowned again, obviously not pleased, but he stayed quiet as he showed Zach to the door. 

“Thank you again,” Zach said as he was about to leave. “I’ll try to make sure any other vampire hunters stay off your ass.” 

“Well that’s sweet of you. I think I could take any of them now that I’ve fed, but I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Hey, you’re only better because I let you drink from me, so don’t go getting a swelled ego,” Zach scolded, and Brent gave him a cheeky grin. 

“Your blood was very good; I should thank you somehow.” Brent tapped his chin in mock thought and Zach rolled his eyes. 

“Seriously, I meant it when I said you don’t have to thank me. I don’t know why I helped you, but I don’t regret it. You don’t owe me.”

“I thought of a little way to thank you. Not nearly enough, but it’s something.”

“Brent honestly, you don’t have to-” Zach was cut off by Brent’s mouth pressing gently against his in a chaste kiss. The blond startled, eyes wide and fingers automatically reaching up to curl in Brent’s hoodie in shock. The vampire pulled back a bit, but was stopped by Zach’s death grip on his sweater. 

“Uh, Zach…? You’re kind of holding my sweater hostage…” Zach however, didn’t let go. He couldn’t seem to get his brain or his fingers to work properly. He felt warm and flushed from his face all the way down his neck, and where Brent had bitten him was prickling oddly. “Zach?” Brent was starting to look vaguely concerned. Instead of letting go of Brent as he had intended to do, Zach actually yanked the vampire closer and kissed him again, just a simple brush of lips. Then he was able to finally coerce his brain into working again, and quickly stepped away from Brent. 

“Uh, I don’t know what possessed me to do that,” Zach said quickly. “Just forget that I did that okay?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be able to forget that for a long time,” Brent said with a smirk. Zach felt his face grow impossibly hotter and resisted the urge to hide it behind his hands. Instead, he turned quickly so Brent wouldn’t see how red he was.

“I-I think I should get going now. I’m going to tell my contact that you “escaped” in the morning, so you lay low for now.”

“I can do that. I’d say hopefully I won’t see you again, but I don’t think I’d mind it very much if I did, to be honest.” Brent gave Zach a coy little smile that Zach barely saw as he scurried off back to his hotel.

When he did get back, he flopped down onto the bed first thing. Exhausted from the very strange events of the day, Zach only had a couple minutes to consider what the hell had just happened before he dropped off to sleep.  
~~~~  
“What do you mean, he got away?” Zach’s client did not look pleased. “I thought you were a professional; how did you let this happen?”

“Hey, I’m a mere human dealing with a supernatural being who is hundreds of years old easily. Sometimes they give me the slip. He must have gotten wind that I was in town and gone underground. Vampires usually have pretty good hiding places in many places, so I’m not surprised.” 

“I can’t believe this. Not only did I already pay you for this job, but you let the vampire get away. Ridiculous…” Zach’s client sighed heavily. “You’re dismissed.” 

Once Zach had left, his client turned to one of his assistants.

“He’s lying, he’s got to be lying about the vampire escaping him. I think he let the damn thing escape” The man stroked his short beard with a finger. “I say we take matters into our own hands and get rid of the both of them. Here’s the plan: we lure them both in and have the vampire kill Zachary. Then we kill the vampire. It should be wounded enough from fighting a vampire hunter for us to kill it.”  
~~~~  
The next day, Zach’s phone vibrated on the table while he was enjoying a cup of tea at a local Starbucks. He’d decided to stay in Knoxville an extra day simply to give himself some time to relax. The blond glowered at the offending, buzzing device, really contemplating throwing it across the room. He didn’t know what had changed in the past couple of days, but he was having serious doubts about continuing to hunt vampires. Zach had tried to reason with himself that the reason was simply because this is what he’d been doing his whole life and that it was time for a change. But a tiny part of him knew that really, it was because his encounter with Brent had changed him. How many other vampires were just like Brent, just fighting to exist and blend in with regular people? How many of them were actual decent, despite the rest of humanity labelling them as monsters? These were the kinds of things that were keeping Zach up at night and making him not want to answer his phone, which was still buzzing on the tabletop.

But since he was a decent person, he did answer it, as people were beginning to side-eye him and his phone. 

“Hello, Zach Myers speaking.”

“Yes, I know who you are Zachary Myers.” Zach swallowed an annoyed sound at the voice of the client who’d hired him to kill Brent.

“Why are you calling me? I told you, the vampire got away from me.”

“Yes, I’m aware. However, I have something I want you to see; I hope you’re still in town.” 

“What is it?” Zach asked suspiciously. He had a feeling that it had to do with Brent, but hoped that he was wrong. 

“Oh you’ll see. I want it to be a surprise, a little ‘thank you’ for at least driving the vampire underground for us.”

“Huh? Tell me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you mad that I didn’t kill the vampire?” Zach asked incredulously, one eyebrow raised. 

“Well, I was, but at least if it thinks you’re still around, it won’t dare show it’s face and thus, can’t attack or kill anyone. So as thanks, I have something to give you.” Zach was still incredibly suspicious, but he relented. 

“Fine, where do you want me to meet you?” His former client gave him an address and with a foreboding feeling, Zach headed there. He took a silver stake and a small handgun just in case his bad feeling turned out to be right.   
~~~~  
When he got to the address, it turned out to be an empty warehouse. Zach sighed heavily and made sure that both his stake and gun were within easy reach. When he went inside, he was immediately proven right by the door slamming shut behind him. The blond rolled his eyes; sometimes he really hated being proven right. He made his way further into the warehouse, which was basically just one huge room. Zach wandered to the middle of the room and glowered around.

“Really funny guys, you can come out now.” 

“Well well, how nice of you to join us Zachary.” Zach turned to see his former client and several of the people that he had hired to try and keep the vampire threat at bay.

“Yeah, join you in what is so obviously a trap? Kind of wish I hadn’t bothered answering my phone now,” Zach grumbled. “So what the hell is this all about?”

“I happened to find out that you lied about the vampire getting away from you.” Zach startled, eyes wide.

“Wh-what? I wasn’t lying!”

“Then how come I found him still in town, even though you said he ran? If he indeed ran, then how is he right here?” 

Zach’s heart sank when another light in the dark warehouse turned on, revealing Brent chained to a pole with what looked like silver chains. They’d have to be, in order to effectively hold him when he’d just fed. The vampire looked up and smiled slightly when he spotted Zach. Other than that, he gave no indication that he knew the blond. Zach knew it was to spare them both the torture if Zach’s client found out that they seemed to know each other beyond vampire and hunter. 

“So what I’m going to do, is give you another chance to fulfill your end of our bargain and kill this vampire right here, right now. And if you don’t, then the vampire will kill you and then we’ll kill it. So either way, we get rid of this nuisance to our city.” 

“What?!” Zach stared at his former client disbelievingly. “Are you mad; you can’t take on a vampire without training, even with all of those people!” He shot a nervous look at Brent, who was now staring at the ground. At this angle, Zach was pretty sure that he was the only one who could see the wicked smile that was gracing the vampire’s face. 

He assumed that meant that Brent had a plan. 

Zach turned back to face his former client, who had apparently gone absolutely crazy.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into…” he warned. “Vampires aren’t exactly easy to tame.”

“This one hasn’t fed in weeks. What could it possibly do to us?” Zach’s client made a little dismissive hand gesture and one of his lackeys headed over to where Brent was chained up, and reached around him to unlock the chains. 

Only they hadn’t realized that Brent had somehow gotten the chains undone himself, and when the guy went to lean around him, the vampire promptly broke his arm. Only he moved so fast that none of them really saw it happen. One minute, the guy was going to unchain Brent, and the next, Brent was free and the guy was hunched over clutching his arm. Another guy approached him hesitantly while Brent was shaking the rest of the chains off, and again, it was a blur of motion and the chains were wrapped around the guy’s neck and being used to throw him to the ground. 

“Shoot them both! Just kill them both!” Brent’s eyes widened and he unhesitatingly threw himself at Zach, tumbling the vampire hunter to the ground. Zach heard gunshots and felt the vampire jerk a couple times before slumping a little against the blond. 

“Brent!” Zach wrapped his arms around the vampire to help support him, not caring anymore about his former client knowing that he and Brent knew each other. “Jesus christ, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I was just worried about you getting hit.” There was blood dripping from the corner of Brent’s mouth, and a pink tongue poked out to lick it away. “No lasting damage done on my end.” Several more bullets hit the vampire in the back and he made a muffled, discomforted noise. “It’s getting kind of annoying though. Mind if I kill him?”

“You know what? Be my guest. This asshole’s done enough damage,” Zach said after a moment of hesitation. “He’s more of a monster than you are, to be honest. And he hurt you.” Brent leaned up to kiss Zach on the forehead gently.

“You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend it.” Brent got up a bit shakily, but soon regained his balance and was over by Zach’s former client in one of those too-quick-to-be-seen movements. 

“You know, I’d torture you, but I don’t want to scare Zach and you don’t deserve my time.” Brent took the man’s face gently in his hands. “But with luck, you’ll get what you deserve somehow.” In another blurred motion, he snapped the man’s neck, letting the body fall gracelessly to the floor. He then turned to Zach, who was watching him curiously.

“Shall we get out of here?”

“Please.”

“Where are you staying? I’ll come with you,” Brent offered.

“Uh, nowhere actually. I was going to drive back to Memphis today before all this shit happened. Now I guess I’ll have to get a hotel room again; I’m way too tired to drive all that way.”

“Why don’t you just stay with me for tonight? Obviously I have an extra room that I’d be happy to lend out.” 

“Really, you’d let me do that? I wouldn’t be imposing at all?” Zach asked anxiously. Brent laughed and shook his head. 

“No, of course not. To tell you the truth, I’m glad for the company. I get lonely a lot.”

“Then I’ll definitely take you up on that offer.”  
~~~~  
Brent led Zach to his spare room so that the blond could throw his stuff in there. 

“Hey, thanks again for letting me stay here,” Zach said, pulling his phone out of his bag to check it really fast. “I really appreciate it.” When there was no response from the vampire behind him, Zach frowned but didn’t look up from his phone, thumbs flying across the keyboard as he texted his dad back. “Brent?” A hand curled in the back of his shirt and Brent’s forehead thumped against his back, between his shoulder blades. Zach startled and half turned, stopped by the vampire’s hand on his shoulder. 

“Um? Are you alright?” he asked hesitantly, reaching around awkwardly to pat Brent’s shoulder. 

“Zach…? Are you okay if I bite you again? I just...lost a lot more blood than I thought, being shot so many times.” Zach blinked and laughed softly.

“So much for the “big bad vampire” act huh?” he teased, snorting when Brent slapped at his arm gently. “But yes you can, I don’t mind.” 

Brent spun Zach around and carefully tipped him back onto the bed. The blond yelped when his back hit the mattress and again when the vampire buried his nose against Zach’s neck. 

“I hope this isn’t creepy, but you smell so good,” Brent murmured, fangs tickling the sensitive skin of Zach’s throat. “Did you know that blood doesn’t smell like copper and metal to vampires? Every human has their own unique scent to their blood and yours is very...different...intoxicating almost. I don’t know what it is about your blood, but it draws me to you.” Zach was barely paying attention to the vampire’s words because his fangs were brushing against the hunter’s skin with each word and the sensation was extremely distracting to say the least. 

“I-I heard that vampires have some kind of way to make people like being bitten?” Zach’s breathing hitched when Brent gave his neck a tiny little lick. “A-Are you doing that to me? Did you do that to me when you first bit me?”

“To answer your first question: yes, vampires have a sort of venom that acts as a mild aphrodisiac to help calm their intended victim, but it’s nothing that would last days or anything. So yes, I would have used it on you simply because I was taking so much blood, I didn’t want you to freak out and hurt yourself. But usually I do it because it makes the other person feel good. Why, did you like it?” 

“Yeah…” Zach tipped his head back a little to give Brent more room, but the vampire instead pulled back. “Wait, why’d you stop?”

“Have you always had this scar here?”

“What scar where?” 

“This one.” Brent touched a finger gently to Zach’s neck and the blond shivered visibly.

“I don’t think so…? Wait, lemme up so I can look.” 

“Later...let me feed first alright?” Brent dipped his head back down to nip along Zach’s collarbone, making him shudder. 

“Yeah sorry, go ahead if you need to.” 

The vampire spent a little more time nuzzling Zach’s neck before he actually went ahead and bit him. This time, it was a lot less rushed and needy since Brent wasn’t starving, so Zach had more time to appreciate the little things while the vampire fed. Like the way that Brent steadied him with hands on either side of his waist, and the little content noises the vampire made against his throat that vibrated against his veins and bones and made Zach shiver. The hunter’s favorite thing was how Brent was so delicate about the whole thing, especially when the vampire pulled away and healed his neck with little gentle licks, catching any stray blood. 

Zach sighed and flopped down onto the bed, pleasantly lightheaded and dizzy, giggling when Brent curled up next to him. 

“You know…” the hunter started, well aware that his voice was a little slurry and tired, his accent a little more pronounced. “I was thinking about giving up vampire hunting for good.”

“Oh? And what were you thinking of doing instead?” Brent asked. 

“I dunno...I was just wondering how many other vampires were just...like you. Y’know, just trying to survive and stuff.”

“Quite a lot that I’ve met are like that actually.”

“See? I was thinking about that and then I started to feel bad. So I think I’m done with this whole business for good. My dad won’t be happy but…”

“It’s your life,” Brent said softly, nuzzling Zach’s hair. “Live it how you want. Do what you want.”

“What I want....I kind of want to stay here...with you…” Zach admitted softly. “You’re interesting and...you make me feel safe.” Brent blinked at that, surprised. 

“You want to stay with me? You might be in more danger than if you stayed in the vampire hunting business to be honest.” 

“But I’ll feel better about myself.”

“True...and to be completely, selfishly honest, I’d really like it if you stayed with me. You’re interesting and I’m lonely. Maybe it’s time I had a companion.”

“Good then it’s settled. And now that it is, can we sleep? I’m exhausted and you’re comfy.” Zach nestled closer to Brent, deciding on using the vampire’s chest as a pillow, wrapping his arm securely around Brent’s waist. 

“Alright...sleep well Zach.” There was no reply as the blond was already sound asleep. Brent smiled fondly and carded a hand through the hunter’s hair.

Yeah, he could get used to having this cute little human around for a while…


End file.
